Computer-executable spreadsheet applications are conventionally configured to allow users thereof to organize and analyze tabular data. Generally, a spreadsheet of a computer-executable spreadsheet application includes numerous cells arranged in rows and columns, wherein each cell can retain a respective value (or function that outputs a value based upon data in other cells). A user of the spreadsheet application may select a cell and manually modify content thereof, either by specifying a new value to be included in the cell or by modifying a function used to compute a value for the cell.
Conventional spreadsheet applications are well suited for organizing and manipulating tabular data, particularly when the user is familiar with functions supported by the spreadsheet applications (and commands that invoke such functions). In an example, the user can cause values in a respective plurality of cells to be summed by setting forth a textual command, such as “SUM”, and subsequently identifying cells that include values that are desirably included in a summation.
In conventional spreadsheet application, however, it can be arduous to augment a table with data that is not already loaded into the spreadsheet application. For example, a novice user may load a table into the spreadsheet application, where the table includes a column of entities (e.g., where an entity is a string that is representative of a person, place, or thing). Thus, in an example, the column of entities can include city names, state names, company names, etc. As can be ascertained, a person, place, or thing can be described by an attribute. For instance, the state of California can be described by numerous attributes, such as population (e.g., in a certain year), average rainfall (e.g., over several years), etc., wherein the attributes have values respectively corresponding thereto. Conventionally, for example, to augment a table to add a column of attribute values in correspondence with respective entities, a user must perform a search for the desired attribute values (e.g., through use of a conventional search engine), identify a data source that includes the attribute values (e.g., a table or set of tables), determine that the data source is trustworthy, and then manually transport data from the identified source into the table at the appropriate locations. It can be ascertained that this can be a time-consuming and frustrating task.